Władysław Anders

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Władysław Anders
Years of service1913
RankLt. General (Polish - Generał Broni)
Battles/warsWorld War I, PBW, PDW, World War II, Monte Cassino
AwardsOrder of the White Eagle Virtuti Militari (II Class) Virtuti Militari (III Class) Virtuti Militari (IV Class) Virtuti Militari (V Class) Polonia Restituta (III Class) Cross of Independence Cross of the Valorous Cross of the Valorous Cross of the Valorous Cross of the Valorous Cross of the Valorous Cross of the Valorous Cross of the Valorous Cross of the Valorous Cross of Merit (I Class with Swords) Commemorative medal for war of 1919-1921 Cross of Monte Cassino (Poland) Order of the Bath Légion d'honneur Legion of Merit (II Class)
The tombstone of General Anders at the Polish War Cemetery at Monte Cassino in Italy.
The Polish War Cemetery at Monte Cassino in Italy.

Lieutenant-General Władysław Anders (August 11, 1892 –May 12, 1970) was a General in the Polish Army and later in life a politician with the Polish government-in-exile in London.

Anders was born on August 11, 1892 to his Baltic-German father Albert Anders and his mother Elizabeth, born Tauchert,[1] in the Polish village of Krośniewice-Błonie, near Kutno which at that time was part of the Russian Empire (Partitions of Poland). He was baptized as a Protestant, member of the Evangelical-Augsburg Church in Poland.[1]

He studied at the Riga Technical University and became a member of the Polish student fraternity Arkonia. As a young officer Anders served Tsar Nicholas II in the 1st Krechowiecki Lancer's Regiment during World War I, later joining the Polish Army and again serving as a commissioned officer in a cavalry regiment.

Anders was in command of a cavalry brigade at the time of the outbreak of World War II. The Polish army at that time had not yet had a chance to fully modernise, having been resurrected only 20 years earlier, in 1918-19, following Polish independence from German, Austrian and Russian rule. Neither the army nor the Polish Cavalry was a match for German Blitzkrieg tactics, tanks and motorised infantry, and the Polish forces were forced to retreat to the east. During the fighting and retreat he was wounded a number of times. Anders was taken prisoner by Soviet forces which invaded Poland eastern part on September 17, 1939, and was jailed, initially in Lviv (then Lwów) and later in Lubyanka prison in Moscow. During his imprisonment Anders was tortured.[2]

General Sikorski with Polish junaks (cadets) in the Middle East 1943, visiting Polish Army in the Middle East under command of General Anders.

Shortly after the attack on the Soviet Union by Germany on June 22, 1941, Anders was released by the Soviets with the aim of forming a Polish Army to fight alongside the Red Army. Continued friction with the Soviets over political issues as well as shortages of weapons, food and clothing led to the eventual exodus of Anders' men - known as the Anders Army - together with a sizeable contingent of Polish and Jewish civilians, along the Persian Corridor into Iran, Iraq and Palestine; where Anders formed and led the 2nd Polish Corps while agitating for the release of Polish nationals still in the Soviet Union. It was during this time that large numbers of non-combat-capable Polish men and women were sent to Britain. Many stayed, and made their way in the world after the end of the war.

Anders was the commander of the 2nd Polish Corps in Italy 1943–1946, capturing Monte Cassino in the Battle of Monte Cassino.

After the war the Soviet-installed communist government in Poland in 1946 deprived him of Polish citizenship and of his military rank. Anders had, however, always been unwilling to return to a Soviet-dominated Poland where he probably would have been jailed and possibly executed, and remained in exile in Britain. He was prominent in the Polish Government in Exile in London and inspector-general of the Polish forces-in-exile. He died in London on 12 May 1970, where his body lay in state at the church of Andrzej Bobola, where many of his former soldiers and families came to pay their last respects. He was buried, in accordance with his wishes, amongst his fallen soldiers from the 2nd Polish Corps at the Polish War Cemetery at Monte Cassino in Italy.

After the war Anders wrote a book covering his thoughts and experiences. An Army in Exile was published originally by MacMillan & Co., London, in 1949. The book has been recently re-issued under the same title.

After collaps of Communism Poland 1989 return his citizenship and military rank.

Military offices
Preceded by General Inspector of the Armed Forces
1946–1954 		Succeeded by

Medals

Poland

The United States of America

Great Britain

Czechoslovakia

Italy

Knights of Malta

Yugoslavia (Royal)

Persia

France

Russia (Imperial Russia)

Notes

  1. ^ a b Władysław Anders on Technical University Rzeszów Template:Pl icon
  2. ^ Sarner, Harvey (2006). Generał Anders i żołnierze II Korpusu Polskiego. Poznań: Zysk i S-ka. pp. p. 37. ISBN 83-7506-003-8. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)

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